I need sleep like I need oxygen (I'm not admitting to missing you like crazy)

Summary:

Erik needs sleep, but since he and Charles broke up, he's not been able to get a good night's sleep.

Notes:

This was an old prompt from tumblr I'd saved ages ago but never gotten around to using:

http://nadiahilker.tumblr.com/post/146473062490/post-break-up-au:

"I literally can’t sleep alone anymore so I’ve shown up at your door in my pyjamas, can we have one more nap together, please?"

Work Text:

Erik was at the end of his tether. At first he'd put it down to the break-up having been bad, but in truth, he and Charles had agreed to break it off for the sake of both their sanity.

Edie was giving him looks as well and Erik knew that his temper was fraying. If he could just get some damned sleep! He'd be okay if he could just get six or seven hours of uninterrupted sleep, but at most he'd managed three or four hours at night for the past two weeks.

This weekend he'd been dead set on sleeping for a solid ten hours or until he felt rested, but the house was quiet with his mother visiting her sister in Cleveland and at 2AM Erik threw his covers off, deciding that something had to be done. His key was halfway in the ignition of his car when he looked down himself. He'd put his coat over his pyjamas and pushed his bare feet into a pair of sneakers and he had no idea where he was going.

Leaning his head down on the steering wheel he sighed deeply. That was a lie. He needed rest and there was only one place he could get it.

Which meant, twenty minutes later, he was in front of the apartment door, deciding to not think too hard about the fact that the doorman downstairs hadn't even blinked at him when letting him through.

And then the doubt set in, Erik asking himself what the hell he was doing. What was he doing, standing in front of the familiar door? He'd knock and then he'd have it slammed in his face, if Charles would even open it in the first place. Erik knew that Charles would check the mind of whoever knocked before opening and he wouldn't open the door for Erik in the middle of the night! Or at any other point.

Erik was so busy dealing with his sleep deprived mind that he hadn't noticed the feel of Charles' necklace, before the door swung open.

Two things hit him at the same time, one, Charles was still wearing the necklace - the one that Erik had given him months back and two, Charles looked about as much in need of sleep as Erik felt he did.

"I was wondering if you planned on standing out here the whole night." Charles eyed him with a quirk of the lips. "You're projecting."

"I need help," Erik managed to get out. His brain felt like it was going in circles, constantly coming past 'why did we break up again?' and 'you look like shit' and 'oh god, I need some sleep or I'll either pass out or kill someone.'

"Can't have you killing someone - come on in, Erik." He stepped back to let Erik in and Erik nearly fell through the door, already feeling the tension of lack of sleep seeping from his bones as the familiarity of the apartment rolled over him. The scent of Charles' tea, the scent of books and -freshly baked cookies?

Yeah, hadn't that been why Erik had started the argument and they'd decided to break off their relationship? Come to think of it, the brush of Charles' sleepy mind drained a lot more of Erik's tension.

"And I think I've been an idiot," Erik admitted, sheepishly.

Charles didn't comment, just raised an eyebrow and swiped a cookie from the tray on the counter between the living room and the kitchen - offering it to Erik.

"That's your way of agreeing with me, isn't it?" Erik asked, only partly managing to put his usual sarcasm into the question.

Charles rolled his eyes and yawned. "Yeah, but I'm too tired to have any arguments with you right now, Erik, so either eat your cookie and leave, or-"

"Or?" Erik asked hopefully, munching on the cookie, still warm enough to make the chocolate inside it all gooey. He'd missed Charles' cookie baking sprees too.

"Or eat your cookie and come to bed. I think we both need some sleep." He squinted at Erik and yawned again. "I know I do and judging from that homicidal urge I'm getting from you, I'm not the only one."

Erik chewed quickly and swallowed, licking his lips to get rid of the crumbs. He caught the flash of Charles' eyes dipping down to his mouth and then studiously back up.

Waking up at two in the afternoon on the Saturday was disorienting, as was the warm body spooned up behind him. Not that Erik was going to complain. If anything, he'd be working to get back into Charles' good graces so he could have a normal sleeping pattern again.

"And it has nothing to do with you missing me, huh?" Charles asked, his breath tickling the back of Erik's neck.

Erik shivered and grinned. "This is the first good night's sleep you've had too, isn't it?"

Charles huffed out a laugh. "Yes."

"So you've missed me as I've missed you," Erik stated, not even asking it as a question.

"I'm not arguing with you there," Charles teased. "But we can discuss that over breakfast or lunch in a bit - I'm not even sure what time it is." And I don't care, was left unvoiced.

In a bit. In a bit was good. Erik closed his eyes and drifted off again. In a little more than a bit maybe. He was far too comfortable and sleepy still to have any life altering conversations. Even if it came with Charles' pancakes.

The pinch to his side made Erik squirm, but for now he was damned if he was going to move from where he was, Charles plastered against his back, warm and maybe not as annoyed with Erik as Erik had thought he was.